The Fiesta is fine for doing errands around town and great for parking in small spaces, but it is less great on long trips, something that is typical of most small cars.

The Fiesta is fine for doing errands around town and great for parking in small spaces, but it is less great on long trips, something that is typical of most small cars.

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The interior is well laid out and looks like a less elaborate version of Ford's midsize sedan, the Fusion.

The interior is well laid out and looks like a less elaborate version of Ford's midsize sedan, the Fusion.

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Rear seat passengers, perforce, don't have much leg room.

Rear seat passengers, perforce, don't have much leg room.

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its 1-liter, three-cylinder EcoBoost engine is peppy enough to get the Fiesta up onto the freeway, but once you’re there, it starts to bog a bit.

its 1-liter, three-cylinder EcoBoost engine is peppy enough to get the Fiesta up onto the freeway, but once you’re there, it starts to bog a bit.

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If you don’t like small cars, either spend the money to get a bigger one – the Fusion is Ford’s competitive entry in that fiercely fought segment of midsize sedans – or do what many people are doing these days, which is to buy a far more comfortable used car for about the same price ($17,530) as our 2014 Ford Fiesta SE sedan. less

If you don’t like small cars, either spend the money to get a bigger one – the Fusion is Ford’s competitive entry in that fiercely fought segment of midsize sedans – or do what many people are doing ... more

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A nice touch: both left and right outside mirrors have smaller mirrors embedded in them that give you wider view of the truck that’s overtaking you. (Sticking small, wide-angle mirrors on the bigger ones is something traffic-wary motorcyclists have been doing for years.) less

A nice touch: both left and right outside mirrors have smaller mirrors embedded in them that give you wider view of the truck that’s overtaking you. (Sticking small, wide-angle mirrors on the bigger ones is ... more

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One touch that didn’t work on the Fiesta: the switch for locking and unlocking all four doors (just above the red triangle in this photo) is smack in the middle of the center stack. It would work better if it was on or near the driver’s door. less

One touch that didn’t work on the Fiesta: the switch for locking and unlocking all four doors (just above the red triangle in this photo) is smack in the middle of the center stack. It would work better if ... more

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Besides checking out the Fiesta, you can slog your way through the car dealers and try out the new Fit, or a Nissan Versa or Toyota Yaris or Hyundai Accent or one of a myriad of other small cars.

Besides checking out the Fiesta, you can slog your way through the car dealers and try out the new Fit, or a Nissan Versa or Toyota Yaris or Hyundai Accent or one of a myriad of other small cars.

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2014 Ford Fiesta SE — a worthy citizen in the world of small cars, but then again you have to like small cars.

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For less than $20,000, the Ford Fiesta is a bargain, if you want a small car that does not ride as smoothly as its bigger brothers, up in Fusion territory.

We tested a four-door Fiesta SE sedan the other day and found, frankly, that bouncing around in a diminutive econobox was not exactly what we wanted to be doing that afternoon. True, we had just come off testing a BMW X5 SUV, which was exactly four times the price of the Fiesta, but we just didn’t want to get acclimated to the small car ride.

But in the pursuit of all things testy – we are nothing if not testy in this road testing game – we plowed ahead and put the Fiesta’s five-speed gearbox and its 1-liter, three-cylinder EcoBoost engine through its paces. And, yes, pace it did.

The Fiesta and the Focus are Ford’s two big hits in the Department of Little Cars. The Focus is slightly bigger and pricier than the Fiesta. In the long run, it turns out, the Focus is also more comfortable. These are not big cars – the Fiesta sedan’s length is 173.6 inches and the Focus is only five inches longer. But it is that edge in length that makes the Focus far more comfortable. We found that the Fiesta was simply too small (Ed. note: ease up on the chocolate cake, pal, and it might be a roomier car.)

The Fiesta and Focus each hold five passengers and they each get very good fuel mileage (it varies, depending on engines and transmissions. Our test car’s three-cylinder engine churned out 123 horsepower and has EPA fuel economy figures of 32/45 mpg, city/highway.)

That EcoBoost engine, by the way, is peppy enough to get the Fiesta up onto the freeway, but once you’re there, it starts to bog a bit. Yes, the car is light – 2,578 pounds, which is a lot lighter than most – but it still isn’t going to retire any land speed records.

Inside, there is the usual complement of switches that come in what is a near-stripper car, so don’t wish for more. No, there was no navigation or, blessedly, Ford’s troublesome Sync® with MyFord Touch®, and that’s all you really want to know about this – I’ve tried it in other Ford products and it is not easy.

Some nice touches: both left and right outside mirrors have smaller mirrors embedded in them that give you wider view of the truck that’s overtaking you. (Sticking small, wide-angle mirrors on the bigger ones is something traffic-wary motorcyclists have been doing for years.)

One touch that didn’t work on the Fiesta: the switch for locking and unlocking all four doors is smack in the middle of the center stack. It would work better if it was on or near the driver’s door.

Ultimately, whether you buy a car like this is really determined by two things: you have to like small cars – their ride, their noise, their bouncing around; and if you do, I suggest you also try a Honda Fit.

If you don’t like small cars, either spend the money to get a bigger one – the Fusion is Ford’s competitive entry in that fiercely fought segment of midsize sedans – or do what many people are doing these days, which is to buy a far more comfortable used car for about the same price ($17,530) as our 2014 Ford Fiesta SE sedan.

Indeed, it’s something that’s come up more and more frequently, as we learn that cars are so much better made these days (notwithstanding the recent spate of recalls for sloppy corporate and government handling of safety issues) and will last a lot longer, as you take care of them.

If I had $17,530 to spend on a wheels, a new small car would not be my first choice. Maybe it’s just me, but I would head for used cars like a 2007 or 2008 Lexus ES350 sedan (I found several on Craigslist for anywhere from $13,000 to more than $20,000) or a 2008 Honda Accord or Toyota Camry.

These are not new cars. To feel comfortable in even hunting for them, you have to feel at ease with a car that has traveled 50,000 or 60,000 miles. You can get some peace of mind by paying your mechanic to have the car checked out. You can also check out Edmunds.com and Consumer Reports, among others, to see what they say.

Or… you can slog your way through the car dealers and try out the new Fiesta, or the Fit, or a Nissan Versa or Toyota Yaris or Hyundai Accent or one of a myriad of other small cars.